It all began in 1843 when Tennessee drifter William Overton and Massachusetts lawyer Asa Lovejoy beached their canoe on the banks of the Willamette River … Overton [sold] his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove… Lovejoy was determined to name the site after his hometown of Boston, while Pettygrove was equally adamant about his native Portland, Maine. They decided to flip a coin, now known as the “Portland Penny,” to settle the argument. Pettygrove won on two tosses out of three.
I’m glad it came out the way it did so that we don’t have two Bostons. Imagine the state this union would be in if we had an east coast Click and Clack and a west coast Click and Clack.